Ended up with a cracked lens screen on a blackberry curve 8330 and wanted to replace it.

It's not urgent because we have other units we can use, but figured if I could get it fixed for a reasonable price we'd give it to one of the kids.

Checked with Telus, the provider and they won't fix it. They are willing to give me a replacement curve for just under $200.

Not a deal considering the curve is pretty much out of date, and why buy a new out of date phone to replace a screen lens.

Even the Telus rep suggested we drop in to Pacific Mall and pick up a replacement lens for $25 or so.

As anyone who knows me will attest, I'll gladly pay a lot extra for 2 things in life. Convenience and peace. So I figured I'd rather just drop it off at a repair depot than fix it myself.

I did an internet search and found 2 things.  One, the replacement lens will run between $9.99 and $16.00 US depending on where you pick it up, and secondly there's a store in Toronto that prides itself on 1 hour blackberry repair in Toronto.  Bingo.  I check their website and the lens is $29.    Hey, people have to make a living, and I don't mind a bit of a markup so I pack up the broken blackberry and head down to www.torontoblackberryrepair.ca better known as The Technow space.

It was Monday the 28th of December and I figured I'd phone ahead and make sure they were open.  They were, and I checked that they had the lens in stock, which they did, same price as their internet site, $29.95.  So I hopped on the TTC and headed across the city and downtown.

Got to the store, and spoke to the guy there only to discover that what was quoted on their website ar e"labour Rates", and the lens itself was another $30.  And there was tax on top of that.   I'm not sure how slow their technicians work, or how astronomical their labour rates are per hour, but I do know the replacement lens should take no more than 5 to 7 minutes MAX to replace.  And that's with shaky hands.

I wasn't thrilled.  I'd travelled an hour downtown only to discover that what I considered to be an inflated price had been doubled.  I asked them if they sold just the parts, but knew the answer before I asked the question and was on my way out the door before he said no.

Let me be clear, there's nothing wrong with what these folks are doing, and the business is to the best of my knowledge a good one, and on the up and up.  But based on their labour prices their technicians take far too long to complete the work, and the parts prices seem greatly inflated also.

So the solution?

Go here:

http://www.everything4blackberry.com/p366/New-Black-Lens-Screen-For-Blackberry-Curve-8330-Cell-Phone/product_info.html

you can pick up a brand new high quality lens screen for your Blackberry Curve 8330 for $16 US, and even with a hefty $20 shipping fee, you'll still come out way ahead of the game, rather than paying through the nose.

And they even offer a quick youtube video on how the repair is done at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRH8uZW6Wnk

There's another video at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBWA59W61As

both show the process taking about 3 minutes max.  You can see how a $30 labour fee is a wee bit much?

ig.